AnthonyAtAkins

You can get Forza set up like this with 3 linked Xbox 360's. Pretty sweet.

Here's the tuning page:



And the custom paint jobs you can create in game are rediculous:

BootCamp

Wow - someone has way too much money to spend on console games.
I see a potential 2008 Challenger customer sitting there, pockets stuffed full of cash - or were, anyway, before buying three Xbox 360's, three LCD monitors and a wheel/pedal setup.
[:-]
My car in our sim:


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AnthonyAtAkins

Yea, that's probably about $4000 worth of console equipment there.

MGDMike

Whoa! Cool stuff.. way out of my price range. That guy looks like he could sell all of that stuff and get a decent chunk of money for that!

Albeeno

This is a company co-owned by the Principal Owner of the Boston Red Sox - John Henry. Very cool company that is doing a lot of exciting things right now in the world of SimRacing. In fact, these guys are actually a client of ours...they hire Accountants from us, as-needed. Anyway, they're based out of Bedford, MA and here is a bit more about them in case anyone is interested.

iRacing.com exists to create the world's most authentic racing simulations, enable and organize real-time, online racing, and advance and expand motorsport. We invent and provide the tools and environment to enhance the skills of racers — novices to experts — around the world, deepening their understanding and enjoyment of the sport. We invite all with interest into the world of simracing.

iRacing.com was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Racing Games, Inc., developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, one of the most successful investment managers in the futures industry and an avid simracer. The iRacing.com team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development.

http://iracing.com/

tdub2112

I hope to be getting Need for Speed ProStreet soon for the Wii.
One would think that you would get a betting feel with the Wii controller in a racing game.
I have Need for Speed Underground, Need for Speed Most Wanted and Need for Speed Carbon.
I saved up money in Carbon for the Challenger.
But I am too poor to upgrade it.
I hear that Need for Speed ProStreet has a realy cool drag racing feature.
you can smooke your tires to intimidate your oppoinant.
And unlike all the other Need for Speed games, your front tires lift of the ground when your ride is powerful enough.

(Crap i have to go to SCHOOL tomorrow!)

BootCamp

This isn't intended as a slam to you, iRacing, your company, John Henry, or anyone else. But here's a little info on iRacing.
iRacing bought the rights to the Sierra / Papyrus' NASCAR Racing series when they lost the rights for "all things NASCAR" to EA Sports. iRacing owns the netcode and programming to that series of sims now - and has for about two years (if memory serves me correctly).
iRacing made a bunch of enemies when they bought Sierra / Papyrus' programming / code and then tried to impose their will / wishes on anyone trying to improve / modify that code during the interim between EA Sports winning NASCAR's endorsement and rFactor - Stock Car Evolution being released. The community had nothing new to use and was trying to improve what they believed was theirs to modify - previously purchased software, apparently abandoned by the creators. iRacing informed the community that their rights to the software and netcode were (illegedly) retroactive to the creation of the first NASCAR Racing sim (because they were the new owners of that "property"), and ANY modifications to that code or programming that was released to the public - whether for profit or free - was a violation of their rights and vigorous legal action would follow. Their intent is/was to base a new sim on that programming platform/format and release it sometime in the near future. THAT was (again) two years ago and nothing (no new sim) has come of it yet.
So iRacing owns the old netcode and format, haven't released anything new based on that (yet), threatened legal action for those who try to modify the old programming/netcode for any reason/purpose, and the sim community had nothing new to race on - until recently (with the introduction of rFactor SCE). How "popular" do you think iRacing is with hardcore sim racers, and what do you think the liklihood is that their new product will be wildly popular/successful if/when they ever release it?

Albeeno

Good info. there Boot Camp, I appreciate it! These are all things they didn't exactly share with us at our initial meeting some 4 months ago when we went to go meet some of the "players" there! In terms of your question re: their popularity, I think it's pretty widespread amongst several of the pro. racing circuits. They pride themselves on catering to anything from open wheel to stock car and everything in between. They may even offer (or will soon be offering) sim racing leagues for non pro. racer types / guys like you and me, as well.

BootCamp

Honestly, you don't need iRacing to join an amateur league. Just about every type of racing simulation has leagues available to run in. The skill level varies within each "series", and most have series' running almost every day/night of the week, so there's usually something there that will fit into your schedule and experience level.
The first leagues I ran in were with FlashPoint Racing Series. I ran in an "arcade" league to start (set up your car, but tire wear and damage were turned off), and progressed up through the skill levels to get to the top divisions in several leagues (where you can't use "aids", cockpit view was "forced", and there were fines for transgressions). There are other series' you can join as well, such as FlashPoint Racing, OnLine Racing, SORS, RROL, SASCAR just to name a few. Most have beginning level leagues through the advanced/pro levels. Dale Earnhardt Jr runs his own series which is "invitation only" at DMP Racing (Dirty Mo Posse).
All you need to join a league is a PC with a good processor, good amount of RAM, and good graphics card(s), the software/platform they run their league on, a solid/stable internet connection, and a wheel/pedal set. Find a league you want to run in, apply for it, and practice - a lot. 'Cause when you THINK you're fast (at any level), they'll show you you're really not - yet.
It's amazing how psyched/juiced you get when you're online racing against real drivers. It's as close to the real thing as most of us will ever get.

Once you've tried sim racing, think about getting a Richard Petty Driving Experience - Rookie Experience at a NASCAR track. They hold the "Experiences" all around the country throughout the year. You'll get a 4 hour initiation into stock car racing in a 600HP (detuned) stock car which includes a safety talk, track tour, fire suit and helmet fit, strapping into the car and following the instructor for 8 laps (the closer you stay to him, the faster he goes), a certificate showing your top lap speed, and pictures of you at and in the car, and you on the track (optional - at an additional cost, of course). If your legs aren't shaking after you get out of the car, you're probably deceased. It's a great time and can be had (at most tracks) for under $500.00.

Jeremiah 29:11

If you really want to do simulation driving right (scrap those 3 displays) you need to get one of these from Alienware:

http://gizmodo.com/341413/alienware-...another-planet

Don't get all frothed up quite yet because it's still only a prototype, but this sweet doublewide curved DLP display with LED illumination from Alienware will reportedly be available in the second half of '08. The curvature of the 2880 x 900 rez screen mimics peripheral vision, and in action the performance seemed pretty flawless to our Crysis-dazzled eyes (official specs report less than .02-millisecond response time). We did notice three faint vertical dividing lines that appeared to indicate four sub-panels making up this screen, but we may be willing to suspend disbelief in exchange for the potential of indulgent wrap-around immersion. There's not even an inkling of an MSRP on this thing yet, but you know we're gonna be keeping our eyes on it.

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